1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to carcass dehairing equipment, and more particularly, to a starwheel assembly for use with carcass dehairing machines.
2. Background Art
The use of automated carcass dehairing equipment is well known in the art. For decades, the primary dehairing equipment has employed starwheels having scraper paddles that rotate and impact the carcass. The scraper paddles include blades which contact the skin and dislodge and remove hair follicles from the carcass. Examples of starwheels and various scraper paddle configurations are shown in the following U.S. patents, namely, U.S. Pat. No. 1,502,749 issued to Schmidt, U.S. Pat. No. 1,460,863 issued to Pratt, U.S. Pat. No. 2,029,064 issued to Edwards, U.S. Pat. No. 2,296,873 issued to Rachford, U.S. Pat. No. 2,604,656 issued to Anderson et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,758,334 issued to Adams, Jr., et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,297 issued to Nijhuis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,109 issued to Radovic et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,066 issued to Meier et al.
Over the last few decades, many meat processing plants have been utilizing starwheels 10′ of the type shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Such starwheels include paddle attachment members 22′ that include an arcuate region to provide a soft edge about which the paddle member can bend. Moreover, the arcuate region of the paddle attachment members typically have a relatively small radius of curvature, rs′ (FIG. 3). As such, certain problems and drawbacks have emerged.
In particular, due to the relatively small radius of curvature, the scraper paddles are exposed to large rotational moments and rotational stresses about a central region of the body. Such extensive bending and rotation exposes the scraper paddles to large and damaging strain forces. Moreover, much of the scraper paddle remains unsupported as the scraper paddle rotates relative to the arcuate region even in a fully displaced configuration. Accordingly, the usable life of the scraper paddles is limited and the scraper paddles degrade relatively quickly.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to enhance the usable life of scraper paddles attached to starwheels.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a starwheel which has an improved support structure for a scraper paddle.
It is another object of the invention to provide a starwheel which limits the rotational displacement of a scraper paddle coupled thereto.
These objects as well as other objects of the present invention will become apparent in light of the present specification, claims, and drawings.